Save Money on Food Costs

With this tight economy, even people with relative job security are feeling the pinch. Folks who have been laid off are having to tighten down on spending to the extreme.

Everyone knows that buying store brands and shopping with a list saves you money! If you're already doing that, you've made a great start! But there's more you can do to painlessly save money at the grocery store and reduce your food costs.

#1 - Buy in bulk.

When buying in bulk, you have to balance three things:
- How much are you really saving?
- Are you able to store that amount of food or product?
- Is it something your family likes well enough to eat a lot of?

Some things, like ground meats, can often be scored for a significant savings when purchased in bulk. Check with membership stores, like Sams or Costco, with your local grocery stores, and also with the meat markets. Ground meat is very easy to brown or form into meatballs or patties, and then freeze for quick meals. Portion it carefully, and you can carve even more meals out of your purchase!

You can also find great deals on sale items. For instance, many drug stores use milk as a "loss leader" - if you can buy milk for a dollar less at the drug store than at the grocery store, you're likely to pick up other, costlier items too. Be careful that you don't get sucked into this marketing gimmick, but do go ahead and pick up several gallons of milk at a time and freeze them. Your family won't know the difference!

#2 - Bake your own.

Bread is expensive if you buy it at the store! Even the "cheap" stuff that tastes vaguely like cardboard costs well over a dollar a loaf! If you make an investment in flour (which you can buy on sale in bulk, and store in your freezer), you can bake your own bread for pennies a loaf. You can easily bake bread from white or wheat flour, and it's also easy to make gluten-free bread at home!

There are many other items that most families buy at the grocery store either pre-made or as a mix - cakes and frostings, pancakes and waffles, muffins, and more can easily be baked at home even if you've never baked before!

#3 - Use more beans and rice.

"Eating beans" has long been the lament of the chronically broke - and yet beans are an easy-to-prepare, high nutrition, low cost food source!

Although you can purchase beans in a can, it's much less expensive to buy dried beans. To prepare, start by rinsing the beans in a colander. Then transfer them to a pot on the stove and follow package directions, or put them in your crockpot on low all day.

You can spice beans up with onion, garlic, red pepper flakes - you name it!

Remember, too, that beans come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from the tiniest and most delicate red lentil, to black beans (great in spicy dishes), to red kidney beans and pinto's. There's enough variety that your family need not get bored!

Rice is also incredibly cheap and easy - but don't waste your time on the parboiled abomination that passes for rice at most grocery stores. Find basmati rice in large sacks at the membership stores or Indian markets, and use that. Rinse it well and add water to the rice at a 2:1 ratio. Cook, covered, at "just boiling" temperature until it looks like there are holes forming in the surface of the rice. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

Combining beans and rice is a nutritionally sound protein option - and a cheap meal!

#4 - Resist the urge for "cheap" foods.

A friend lamented the other day that it's cheaper to buy a $5 sack of cheeseburgers to feed her kids, than it is to buy decent food and cook it.

While it's true that a sack of 99-cent cheeseburgers is a cheap meal, it's also a set-up for disease, which is far more costly!

There are also many meals that can be prepared for less than $5 for the entire family which are healthy, nutritious, and delicious!

Try buying chicken breasts in bulk (bone and skin them yourself) and freeze them. Let's say you pay about $1 apiece for them. Cut one chicken breast into tiny cubes and stir-fry it with a package of frozen vegetables ($1) and some cooked rice ($1). Add ten cents of soy sauce and you have more food with better taste and nutrition than that sack of cheeseburgers!

#5 - Modify breakfast.

One of the #1 food costs in our culture is breakfast... and most of that cost is for sugary cereals and milk. There are several ways to save money on breakfast, while increasing nutrition.

If your kids insist on a certain type of cold cereal, try combining an expensive brand with a plain-jane store brand. (Or you can exert your parental authority and say, "NO!")

Try hot cereals for breakfast. This is another great item to buy in bulk. Often the best source is from a health food store. Try steel-cut or thick-rolled oats (not the gooey mush that passes for oatmeal these days), rolled barley, cream of wheat, and even grits for breakfast. Mix in a small amount of dried fruit and a few nuts or sunflower seeds for an extra punch. It can even be prepared in the microwave or slow-cooker!

You can also try making pancakes (from scratch) or french toast in bulk and freeze them - a few seconds in the microwave or toaster and they are as convenient as the "convenience" breakfasts - and much better for you!

If you're a bacon and eggs person, you can save there, too. Instead of two fried eggs, two strips of bacon, hash browns, and toast, try making a scramble or omelette with just half a piece of bacon, crumbled, some leftover veggies from last night's dinner, and a bit of cheese. Shred a leftover baked potato for hash browns, and toast a slice of your own home-made bread. You're getting more food and better nutrition with much less cost!

As you can see, saving money on groceries is a bit art, a bit science, and a bit common sense - but it is possible to realize significant savings on your food bill if you follow these simple tips!